| A Moment of Calm |
| Summary: | Atreus and Damon have a chat amid chaos |
| Date: | 18 Feb 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | Back on the Job (Preceding) |
| Players: |
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[ Hangar Deck - Port ]---[ Midship - Battlestar Cerberus ]
The single largest rooms on the Cerberus are the hangar decks. Each flight pod consists of two stacked landing bays with adjoined decks and hangars, which along with computer-assisted landings results in a faster Viper recovery rate. Mirror images of each other, these two huge areas are located on the flight pods. The inboard sides of the deck, closest to the ship's main hull, are lined with parking and maintenance bays for Vipers and Raptors based aboard the battlestar. The outboard side of the deck contains the launch tubes used by the Vipers for standard deployment. Huge blast doors seal the deck into four sections, each one containing an elevator that leads up to the flight deck directly overhead. The fore-most section contains an elevator system that leads towards Aerospace Fabrication.
The deck is a study in ordered chaos. Vipers are being moved into repair bays where teams begin working on them. Finished fighters are being taken out of the repair bays and shunted over to a space that has been cleared for testing. These are waiting for techs. Atreus is working on one of the vipers that does not have another crew at the moment. He has pulled the frameboard from beneath the pilot's station and is in the process of installing an older board. There is a raptor in the hanger waiting for attention and another viper with the fuselage on one side open. Elsewhere, someone is working on the strut of a viper.
"All clear!" Damon yells, giving the thumbs-up to a Crewman who's underneath Harrier-305, the craft that the two of them have been working on for the last little while. "Time for a break and some more tea," he says with a chuckle, giving the Crewman a hand up and a pat on the shoulder. "Good work." He starts to head away from the hangar deck when he catches sight of Atreus underneath of a Viper. "Hey Chief!" he calls out, his voice loud and booming over the ambient noise of work and machinery. "Harrier-305's back online and good to go."
The sound that all Deck Chiefs both look for and dread. The sound of 'Chief' being yelled across the deck. Poking his head out of the hole where it has been stuck, he looks around. Spotting Damon, he nods and gives a thumbs up, "Awesome, Damon. Thanks." Ducking back in, he begins the installation of the CNP software. The older software. When he is sure that the upload is going smoothly, he extracts himself and turns to attempt to catch up with Damon. "Hey, Damon. Got a sec?" The man has clearly been at it for a while. His orange jumpsuit is streaked here and there with grease and as he moves, he wipes his hands on a rag.
"Aye Chief," comes the quick answer from Damon, his voice always louder than it needs to be when he's on the hangar deck - a quirk of being just about half-deaf. "I was just gonna grab some tea 'fore moving on to the frakking CNP downgrade. Need me for something?" The Petty Officer's not as dirtied up as the Chief, since he's been mucking about more in the electrical system than elsewise, but his jumpsuit still shows some signs of work.
When he reaches Damon's side, Atreus slows a bit and motions toward the shelf with the tea and coffee. "You grab tea and I'll get coffee. I need a break, I think." Walking a few steps, he adds, "It's good to have you back on the Deck. How's the injury?" Tucking the rag into a loop on his belt, the man slips his hands into his pockets, "The CNP downgrade is going to be a pain." Shaking his head, he glances back over his shoulder, "But, we're doing okay so far. About half finished with this group."
Damon's limp is far less pronounced since he's lost the crutch, but he still does have a bit of a one. "Ah, ankle's holdin' up just fine, Chief," he says with a chuckle. "So long's I'm not jumping off the top of a Raptor or something stupid like that, it should be back to rights in a week or two." When they get to the shelf, he pours himself a cup of hot water and starts steeping himself some tea. "Yeah, the CNP thing is… less than ideal. Not terrible when we're not swamped with regular maintenance and repairs, but…" A shrug accompanied by a sip of tea. "It is what it is, anyway."
Atreus reaches for the coffeepot and pours a mug. "Good to hear that you're healing up. Medical knows their business around here. Just be sure that you follow their instructions, yeah? Can't have your shin acting up at a bad time because you didn't…" He eyes the other man briefly, amusement glinting in his gaze. The look is dropped and he stops pouring just before the mug overflows, "Hah. Natural physicist…" Lifting the mug, he takes a sip, then sighs, "You are right. It is what it is. We'll just keep plugging away. Really? We should be okay as long as things stay roughly status quo. We should have the new software in a few. Just… Turns out we do not have enough of the new frameboards to put redundant systems in the birds. When we do the upgrade, just leave the old backups and frameboards. If anyone has a problem they can reinstall the old stuff. Hate not having redundancies, but it can't be helped."
Damon grunts begrudgingly, raising his plastic cup in a little toast in agreement to the Chief's sentiments about redundancies. "That's military design for ya," he says, half-affectionately and half-distastefully as only a military member can manage. "Lowest bidder gets the contract. Makes sense to leave the old boards in, though - it's good to have a fallback." Turning sideways a bit, he sips the hot tea carefully and watches the bustling deck for a moment. "Hell, I'm still not used to the size of this place yet. The last ship I served on was maybe half this size in the hangar bay."
Atreus nods and sips the coffee again, slowly. "That's the truth." His tone matches the other man's. Licking his lips a little, the man turns a sidelong glance to Damon, "Gotta question for you, though." Letting the Deck run without his scrutiny for a moment, he reaches over to set his mug down on the counter. The mug is one of those handmade ones that can be done in craft class. It has a picture of a woman and two children with two tiny hand prints on it. Clearly, he is fond of the thing. "How do you feel about being lead AE, Damon? I'd like you to take the other AEs under your wing, so to speak. Think you can handle that?"
Damon quirks his lips, momentarily screwing up that persistent approachable and friendly smile that always lights his face into a twisted smirk. "I dunno if that'd sit right with the others to be honest, Chief," he answers, measuring his response carefully. "I'm honored, don't get me wrong - but I've been off duty recovering for the last little while and they've been covering my shifts to boot." And it's not just a humble reaction - some people might be genuinely pissed about it. "I can handle it. It might take me a bit to get fully up to speed, but I can handle it."
Atreus shrugs, "Not their call to make, really. And you out rank them. You are good at your job, they like you enough to cover for you. That means you can organize them." He looks out over the deck again, then shrugs, "Think about it, Damon, but don't think too long. I'll assign it in a week or less. I don't have time to be directing the Deck and every element within it. Talk to me again tomorrow, okay?"
"Aye, aye, Chief," Damon replies, stretching out his neck to work out the kinks. He's not towering, but he's pretty tall and it can get cramped up working under and inside Raptors and Vipers after a while. "If there's a bit of time, even just a week before the assignment, then I'll have plenty of time to make myself seen on the deck again. I know I might outrank 'em - but rank's one thing and respect's another. One brings obedience but the other brings trust, if you know where I'm comin' from." His wry tone of voice suggests that he well knows that a Chief of the Deck hardly needs clarification on what he's talking about. "Like you said, I'll have a definite answer for you by tomorrow."
Atreus chuckles just a little and nods, "I hear you, Damon. And you're right. Let me know what you think, but I won't make an announcement for a while either way." He seems to relax a little, truth to tell, "I'm glad to hear you say that, actually. It means that we think alike, you and I. At least where that is concerned." Turning the mug in his hand, he runs a thumb absently over the small hand prints, "Keep an eye out for Teresi. I sent her to Harbatkin over in Support for a week because she disregarded the Safety First rule. My guess? She is a good kid, probably talented, but in need of a family. She has that lean and hungry look, if you follow me. Don't coddle her, but see if you can get her to equate the Deck crew with kin. See what I mean?"
Damon seems to freeze up for a moment when the Deck Chief says the name 'Teresi', though he relaxes a bit when the feminine pronoun is used. "Teresi, did you say, Chief?" he asks, rubbing the scruff on his chin with his free hand. "Not /Reya/ Teresi by any chance?" Skepticism colors his question - there must be a lot of Teresis on the worlds and in the fleet, but by the way Atreus describes her, she might just be a Teresi that he knows. "If it is, her brother was my best friend back on Tauron."
Atreus smiles and nods, "The very same, yes." Surprise colors his tone and both brows lift, "Oh, really? That is quite a coincidence, Damon. Quite. But, that is a good thing, I suppose. It will give her a frame of reference." Then, he pauses and a frown begins, "Just be careful. She has a bit of the 'wild child' about her that will need to be tamed to military standards. Can you help her along with that? Or is there too much familiarity there to be effective?"
Damon drums his fingers against the paper cup. "I remember she used to be a pretty crazy kid. Hyper, y'know, but always thinking. I can try, Chief, but I gotta tell you I wasn't very close with her - I mean, she was literally just a kid back then. It's been a good seven, eight years since I seen her last." Still, she's an old face from home and he smiles with the prospect of catching up and seeing how his old friend Zander has fared since they fell out of touch. "I hear we've got a whole crew of new knuckledraggers I haven't met yet. Maybe there'll be more people I recognize from previous ships or even from the school." He gives one loud, explosive, "HAH!" at that prospect. "Gods help them if any of my students got posted here."
Atreus's smile returns and again he relaxes, "Just as well that you didn't know her well, actually. I want to avoid even the appearance of favoritizm on this deck." Lifting the mug, he drains the last of the coffee and sets the mug down again. "Yeah, we do." He closes his eyes, brow furrowing in concentration, "Let me see. Darcy Kerrigan; PO 3rd, Eve Dekora; PO 2nd, and your old friend Reya Teresi. She is a crewman." He opens his eyes and laughs along with the notion, "Did you teach any of them, Damon? That would be a riot and a half. And, depending on how they did, it might put us in better footing, in a way." Shaking his head, he looks out over the crew busy at their tasks, "I can't remember such a concentrated influx of women before. Must be they heard about your good looks."
The remark about his looks gets another laugh from the Petty Officer, but instead of the short bark, it's a full-on gut-laugh that sounds more like it should belong to some mountain giant than an Air Engineer. "Well, it should certainly keep morale high, eh Chief?" he asks with a grin. "I don't recall any of those names off the top of my head - it's been about two years since I was an instructor at A-School, so it's possible that the Second was there same time I was. I'm sure I'll know when I see 'em. Or maybe they're avoiding me on purpose." With that almost goofy grin and laid-back attitude, it's hard to think that Damon would've been much of a hard-ass even as an instructor, though. The tea's dutifully drained to the last drop before he tosses it in the garbage, and he spares a moment to stretch his arms. "Time to get these frakkin' downgrades done, hey? I should get back to work 'fore one of the Crewmen decides to bean me with a wrench. Or you decide to write me up as lazy and useless!"
Atreus grins at the laugh, his amusement clear in the crinkle about his eyes and the sparkle within them. He nods, "All right. Just let me know, will you? It will be interesting to see how they react to you… Also? I want to get the pilots in here after the war games to see how they handle routine maintenance. The thing is that they cannot do more than routine. I don't want anyone not on our crews doing in-depth work. So, after the war games, I want to get with you about training the pilots who cannot function that way. Maybe set up some classes or one-on-one, depending on the CAG's preference." Pushing from his lean against the counter with the coffeepot, the man nods, "I should check that install. Make sure the old CNP software uploaded correctly and claim a new bird to work on." A flicker of a chuckle and he nods, "Yeah, there is that. We should both get our lazy asses in gear. I don't want to write myself up… That would be awkward."
"Yeah, and I'd hate to be you after getting chewed out by… you," Damon says with a smirk as he starts heading back toward the working floor. Already, there's another Air Engineer heading straight for him with a clipboard in hand. "I know some of the pilots were mentioning that they've done routine maint on their own ships before - shouldn't be too hard to get the others up to speed!" Now that he's heading back into the ambient noise, he's starting to yell again, which draws the attention of those in the immediate vicinity. "I'll have that answer for you to - for frak's sakes man, let me at least finish my sentence." The last part given to the Specialist pushing the clipboard at him as he walks, pointing insistently at something. Whatever it is, it's caught his attention and he's off again, limping and laughing his way over to a Viper.